The Rooster (Erotic Apocalyptic Thriller)

by Richard Peters

  The Rooster

  Surviving with Style Series 1

  By Richard Peters

  Copyright 2014 Richard Allen Peters

  ISBN-13: 9781310958380

  Smashwords First Edition

  Cover Art: Michael Mehrhoff

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  Thrillers by Richard Peters:

  Power Games (Operation Enduring Unity I)

  Shock and Awe (Operation Enduring Unity II)

  The Surge (Operation Enduring Unity III) Available Oct 2014

  Science Fiction:

  The Unreasonable Man

  Non-fiction:

  Quit Wasting Time and Sell More Ebooks

  Smashwords First Edition, License Notes

  The author has provided this e-book to you without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied so that you can enjoy reading it on your personal devices. This e-book is for your personal use only. You may not print or post this e-book, or make this e-book publicly available in any way. You may not copy, reproduce or upload this e-book, other than to read it on one of your personal devices.

  Table of Contents

  A Brave New World

  Sanctuary

  New World Order

  It’s a Wonderful Life

  First Assignment

  Paradise

  Last Stop

  A Brave New World

  “Any other great ideas, hotshot?” I could still hear my partner’s terrified whisper even over all the moaning. The crazies weren’t usually too active during the day. Hell, might as well call them what everyone else does: the zombies were docile in the daytime. Maybe the sun hurts their engorged pupils or maybe they’ve become cold-blooded. Don’t know and don’t care. I’m sure scientists squirreled away in a bunker somewhere are probing such questions, but that doesn’t do me any good.

  I stole another glance over the ledge and scanned the highway below. We’d only seen a pair of cannibals meandering about when we slipped through this morning. Now, though, hundreds of those shuffling, bloodthirsty beasts packed the broad boulevard. We were both well-armed. In post-apocalyptic southern Texas, guns and ammo were easy enough to get a hold of. Hell, we even had a few real machine guns, salvaged from overrun Army units, stashed at the camp. But those were a last ditch resort. Gunshots bring these killers running from miles away. For every one you killed, twenty more howled their way to the party. The best defense, really the only thing that had kept us alive all these months, was stealth. That and always staying on the move.

  Neither one was a good option here. No chance in hell of sneaking across that open area and getting back to camp. Likewise, slinking a mile or so down the road to skirt this hot spot would leave us in the open after dark. About the worst thing that could possibly happen to you in this new world. Beside me, Dixon couldn’t quit whining. “I told you I heard a fucking truck earlier. We should have extracted then. Not hung around a second longer.”

  He was a good guy to have around most of the time. As a hobby hunter back in the old world, he was also a damn fine shot, unlike me. Also unlike me, he had a girl back at base he was anxious to see again. If the ache to rush through the crowd, guns blazing, was tempting for me, it must have been torture for him. With our rucksacks stuffed with goodies, get back to a hero’s homecoming as quick as possible. I forced down the urge. “Too late now, man. Look, we just need to bed down here and move out in the morning. Whoever stirred them up will be gone, one way or the other, by tomorrow.”

  Dixon was more nervous than usual. Waving his .45 around the whole time, his laughter was a little too forced. “Yeah, I guess you’re right, John. Those morons won’t last long. Man, I swear to God, these little scavenger hunts into town just aren’t worth it anymore.” He scanned the deserted roof for non-existent threats one more time. “Never thought I’d kill or get killed fighting over Doritos and expired medicine. I just wish we could run off north somewhere. Deep in the woods or plains, whatever. Like those secure compounds you always hear about. Start over and stop clinging to the past.”

  I shrugged off my overloaded rucksack. Maybe he had a point, but hell if I’d admit it. I didn’t know the first thing about farming. My city-boy butt wouldn’t be too useful there. But here, in this world, I was a legend in the group. A big wig. One of the few foragers that could reliably get you whatever you wanted from town. What value would I have away from this deadly goody-box of a metropolis?

  “You’ll be part of that history you want to abandon if we don’t bunker down soon. We’ve got less than an hour of daylight left. You get the shelter halves up and I’ll barricade the stairwell door. Maybe we’ll celebrate our haul by cracking open a box of Pop Tarts for dinner.” Lust ached in my heart and even Dixon grinned, despite the near panic on his face. Giving up the old sugar addiction was one of the hardest parts of the end of the world.

  While Dixon got busy I did what I could to tuck us in. In a chain of events that I preferred not to think about, but would explain all the dark stains on the roof, someone once shot the door’s lock off. I looped a length of chain through the hole and tried to find a hard point to anchor it to… when something crashed behind me. A split-second later I heard “Shit!” and, worst of all, a boom! I spun around, baseball bat at the ready, only to see some fat raccoon dash away. Dixon’s face was paler than a zombie’s.

  “It… he… surprised…”

  A collective roar from a thousand cannibals rose up around us. Not all from outside the building.

  Clamp, clamp, clamp rang throughout the dark stairwell behind me. “Let’s go! Move!”

  I ignored my bag five yards away and just dived straight for the fire escape we used to get up here. Sure enough, the alleyway was filling up quick. No point in dropping the ladder. Something howled on the roof just yards away. Without a glance over my shoulder, I snatched one of our backup ropes, locked in my D-ring and jumped off. Was it my paranoia or was there really some hot breath on the back of my neck a millisecond before I went flying?

  A plan C is the secret to survival when the world hates you. Dixon was going to kiss my ass after the way he griped when I insisted we toss grabbling hooks onto a secondary hideout before scaling this building. I finally looked around to see if he was having as much trouble as me climbing the one-story difference in height. I wish I hadn’t.

  Maybe he hesitated too long; maybe he just slipped. Could be his luck simply ran out. Either way, he lay down there in the middle of the alley with a twisted leg. You got to hand it to the old guy. Dixon went out swinging. He must have dropped half a dozen of those fucks before saving the last round for himself. After all the ruckus he made, I don’t think any of the monsters saw me Spiderman-ing away.

  At least, not for a while. In ten minutes, I creeped a couple blocks further from the hotspot. Quiet as a mouse, since the last rays of sun were slithering away. I’m positive they didn’t track me. It must have just been my turn to run out of luck.

  Some little kiosk with a metal rolling facade seemed a decent place to hole up for the night. The place was picked clean, but without obvious struggle. Probably scavengers like me. Shouldn’t be anything lurking around. I swept the small shop for threats and painstakingly eased the clinking metal cage down… just as a scream filled the air. My blood curdled, but I opened my eyes anyway to identify the threat.

  Across the street, a nude young woman sprinted toward
s me. She was fast, with an even stride. Much faster than I’d seen any cannibal move before. She also kept screaming something about “they’re all gone” real loud. Speaking, coherent movement and, I won’t pretend I didn’t notice, breasts still perky. She was human! I let my gun dangle to the side and tried to help.

  “Shhh! Be quiet and get in here!” I reached out to take her hand and yank her inside. Maybe it was the fading light or the stress of the day, or even the jiggling breasts, but it wasn’t until then that I noticed that famous snarl and bloodshot eyes.

  I whipped up my pistol and managed a snapshot to her gut, but just like in the movies, that doesn’t stop them. Only a head shot will. She knew what the gun was too, and batted it playfully out of my hand with that superhuman strength of theirs.

  Which was why I nearly pissed myself when her head exploded. Still would have, if I hadn’t of seen the horde further down the street rushing my way. No time to lose your shit. Hurling the corpse off me, I didn’t even have a chance to scoop up my gun before someone grabbed me.

  “Let’s go, dumbass!”

  Several soldiers, rifles at the ready, dragged me into the street and chucked my confused ass into some car. A hybrid. What the hell? It was packed too. Six of us in a four-seater. Strange enough, I had someone’s standing crotch in my face. Rat-tat-tatting from above explained that mystery. These people had cut a hole in the roof and mounted a frigging machine gun up there. We took a couple of sharp turns before some authoritative female voice from the front seat halted the wild shooting. “Check fire! We’re out of the hot zone. Light discipline everyone. Go to night vision, over.” My mouth hung open, realizing she was talking into some radio and ordering around other teams. Holy crap, talk about impressive! I was giddy as could be.

  “Thank you so much! I won’t lie; that was close!”

  No one else said a word. They just stared at me like some kind of animal in a zoo. I ignored it. Everyone’s social skills are a little warped after Armageddon. I broke the ice with the wittiest thing I could think of: “So what are you dudes all about? Some eco-friendly Special Forces outfit?”

  The woman next to me laughed. “Well, we got ourselves a keeper here. One slap genius. Can’t tell five women from men and can’t tell a zombie from a hooker!”

  I suppose I wasn’t in a position to argue. Still dazed from the rescue. So I kept making small talk. “No offense, I mean I’m grateful and all for your help, but how much further do you think we can go before these batteries give out? Maybe we ought to stop and find a truck or something.”

  Their leader turned around and gave me a look of disgust. Even in the dim red interior light I could tell she was stunning. I don’t mean “we’re all about to die so why not” hot, but old-world standards attractive.

  “Been here 30 seconds and already trying to take charge? Typical man. Sugar, we charged these batteries with our own windmills just this morning. We’ll make it back to the citadel with plenty of juice to spare, even though it’s still a good 50 miles northeast. And no, we won’t grab a pickup like those rednecks that brought a swarm down on you. Mock us all you want, but this electric scoot-about runs as quiet as a bicycle. Which is why we’re saving your ass and not the other way around.”

  This was not a good sign. Me and my crew had bumped into other groups since the collapse. Some were dangerous, most were friendly, but everyone was secretive. All claimed to be nomadic. Since they pretty much told me where their lair was and didn’t bother with a blindfold… well, they obviously weren’t expecting me to leave. Ever.

  Had to get off that depressing train of thought. “How did you know that we were trapped?”

  “Come on, you think this is amateur hour? We’ve been… watching you all day. I am sorry about your partner. If you two had just kept your shit together for ten more minutes, we could have had you both.”

  I caught a noticeable pause before she said “watching.” She nearly used a different word. Not too many positive synonyms there. Time to shut my big mouth for once and just listen. Whatever they had planned, I wasn’t going to make it any easier by handing out free information. Maybe I could pick up some if I actually listened. Unfortunately, unlike most women I met before the End, these gals didn’t gossip. It was a quiet ride out of town. They didn’t even ask me any questions. No questions, no orders… no good signs here.

  What a fucking day.

  Sanctuary

  Even at night, with a blackout in effect, I could tell this compound was massive. Might have been a ranch back in the day. Now there were dozens of buildings, permanent and temporary, scattered over at least a dozen acres. Far as I could see, a razor-wire fence wrapped around the whole thing. Was that a moat? There were even guard towers. A couple miles of open plains in every direction guaranteed nothing would sneak up on them. You have to realize, for months our little gypsy camp out in the woods was the most powerful base I’d ever seen. This organization cowed me more than the firepower my rescuers packed.

  Not until we were inside and cleared the weapons did anyone talk to me. While I ogled some female stacking crates of grenades next to the gate’s concrete blockhouse, the leader of their scavenger band called me out. “So what’s your name, anyway?”

  “John Randall.” I had a million questions, but only one burning anxiety came out. “Have you guys ever encountered zombies like that before? I’ve never seen anything like it. If they’re able to mimic humans… shit, we’ve got a whole new level of craziness on our hands.”

  The head honcho cocked her head. “I don’t know what you think you saw, but those were typical, shiftless cannibals. Best not to mention any of your opinions to the boss when you meet her.”

  Incredulous didn’t even begin to describe my face. “You’re out of your mind. Whatever. Let’s go talk to your leader. You people are the only group around well enough equipped to deal with these new monsters. We need to send more scouting parties. Find out more information. This is a game changing threat!”

  Their brunette leader waved a hand at me. “You sure love to give orders, huh? See how the boss likes that. Whoever you think you are, you look like a wild animal to me. We need to get you freshened up before you meet her.” She turned her back and whispered to some young, blonde girl at her side. I couldn’t make out a word, but the woman’s eyes bulged and she just shook her head. Eventually a naughty grin spread across her face and she laughed.

  They both turned around and sized me up. Did they want to fight after saving me? The blonde spoke first, still smiling. “Well, you heard Daniella. Time to wash up.” They gently pushed me towards some temporary structures with FEMA stenciled on the side.

  Inside, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Rows of showers. Spotlessly clean and… heated? We’d been showering under 5-gallon jugs left out in the sun and then tossed on a tree branch. I tentatively turned a sink faucet on and, sure enough, scalding hot water. My God!

  “Don’t tell me you forgot how to bath while running around like a caveman?”

  Daniella lounged against the wall scrutinizing me while the other one pulled a mound of something out of a locker. I’m an old-fashioned type of guy and the audience made me nervous. “Uh, you just going to stand there?”

  Daniella raised an eyebrow. “Someone’s got to keep an eye on you.” I couldn’t tell if she was undressing me with her eyes or fantasying about stabbing me.

  “So, what am I then? A prisoner?”

  The blonde one dropped some fresh clothes, shower gel and a towel on the bench. The sexiest thing I’d seen in a long time. “Right now, you’re a very dirty boy.” She gave me a wink and nibbled her lip. “And before you can get dirtier, you’ll have to clean up.”

  I can’t say Daniella’s barking was as flirty. “Quit wasting time. Strip and wash up!”

  She leaned back against the wall and settled in. Privacy was in as short supply as courtesy. Whatever. For my first real shower in months, I’d put on a strip show for a bunch of dudes if need be. Worried they might chan
ge their mind, I dropped my sweat-stained rags as quick as I could.

  Ahhh. Not a fantasy. That water was practically scalding. For a few glorious minutes the whole world faded into oblivion. Those crazy gals, the damn zombies, the whole fucking mess that was my life melted away in the steam.

  And then it all came back. Someone flipped the cold water on. I leapt out of the open stall right into the surprisingly strong arms of my blonde guard. “Well, pretty boy. We can’t have you hogging up all the hot water. Time to get dressed and meet the boss.”

  The other Amazonian beauty finally smiled. “Wait a second. How long has it been since you’ve seen a woman?”

  I had no idea what type of trick question this was, so I played along. “Um, it’s been a while.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought. Silvy, we can’t bring an overeager young pup to the boss. She’d be more pleased with us if we brought a stallion with some stamina.”

  The blonde giggled. “Ohh, good point. All right then, pretty boy. Go ahead and fire off a few rounds.”

  “What the hell are you ladies talking about?”

  “Watch your mouth with all that ‘lady’ talk.” Silvia stepped forward and set one finger on my penis. It sprang to live and followed her like a charmed snake. “No, no. That will never do. Way to eager. Hurry up and take care of business.” She made a jerking motion with her hand.

  I tried to play it cool, but I think there was some blushing involved. “You mean… masturbate? Right here? You’re crazy!” I tried to step past them both.

  The brunette’s smiled disappeared just as a pistol appeared from nowhere. She didn’t point it at me. Her voice was threatening enough. “Listen up, big boy. Don’t mistake our generosity for weakness. Now hurry the hell up. If the boss punishes us for keeping her waiting, you’ll get whatever she gives us ten times over.”